Yes, telling the police they can search your home is consent. But what about those who were not home or who didnt answer the door? And if they were say drug dealers with lots of the product out in the open (inside) they could just refuse.
If those people agreed to a search then it wasnt much of a police state action.
I just can’t help but wonder how many FReepers would feel the same outrage if it were a civilian posse doing exactly the same with zero oversight.
Lord knows how much property civilian posses destroyed over the years, or how many searches they conducted, or how many innocents they wounded or killed, or how many executions they carried out without benefit of trial.
None of it was right but we need some balance rather than grabbing our crotches and screaming “police state!”.
Consent must be given, either by saying yes or failing to say no, for anything found to be admissible in court. This includes drugs and drug paraphernalia. If there was nobody available to give consent then the police also violated constitutional rights unless they saw something very suspicious. A 19 year old pressure cooker bomber in anywhere from that location to New York City at that point is not reasonable suspicion.
Let us not forget FReepers: Even with this police and military presence, the unconstitutional searches, and private citizen lockdown, A PRIVATE CITIZEN CAUGHT THE TERRORIST!